Two big names in Harrisburg with ties to Philadelphia have added their names to growing fields of candidates in the 2019 elections.

Former Lt. Gov. Mike Stack announced his candidacy for City Council last week at a major fundraiser. Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams might enter the Democratic primary for mayor. Both have filed petitions with the Board of Elections, which opened the nomination and petition-signing period last Tuesday.

While he hasn’t formally announced yet, Williams described his decision as “imminent” on Monday afternoon. He cites Philadelphia’s struggle to make progress on major quality of life issues like crime, homicide rates, and small business growth in his decision to consider running.

As counties across the state work to comply with a mandate from the governor requiring new voting machines, the state auditor general announced Friday at least 18 counties reported accepting gifts from election equipment vendors dating back to 2013.

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said the report found four companies feted county election officials with gifts ranging from travel to amusement park tickets to free food and drink. The inquiry was launched after it was revealed last year that the top elections official in Luzerne County accepted a Las Vegas trip from manufacturer Election Systems and Software.

Philadelphia election officials Wednesday announced their selections for new voting machines and electronic sign-in books for city voting centers.

The three-member board of city commissioners chose the ExpressVote XL model from Election Systems and Software as the new voting machines for the city, and KNOWiNK as the new vendor for electronic sign-in books.